


Learning Beautiful

by bcbdrums



Series: Beautiful [2]
Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Body Image, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Light Angst, No Sex, No Smut, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Semi-Public Sex, Slice of Life, Tags Are Hard, off-screen sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25714444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bcbdrums/pseuds/bcbdrums
Summary: Drakken was clad in his hideous red sweatsuit and using the bench press machine. Shego watched in silence for a few moments as he whined and wheezed while he struggled to lift what was obviously too much weight, his legs wiggling and his back contorting the whole time. When he finally managed to almost fully extend his arms, he released the handles and let the weights and his arms fall. Then, he took a deep breath, and began the process all over again.Shego rushed forward in concern."You're going to hurt yourself!"
Relationships: Dr. Drakken/Shego (Kim Possible)
Series: Beautiful [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143341
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Learning Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I can't remember what inspired this since I came up with it at 5:30am. But here it is... This is set maybe a month or more post-canon.
> 
> Strong "T" for Teen rating on this. Some mentions of mature subjects. This fic is currently second in the "Beautiful" series.

_**A/N: I can't remember what inspired this since I came up with it at 5:30am. But here it is... This is set maybe a month or more post-canon.** _

_**Strong "T" for Teen rating on this. Some mentions of mature subjects.** _

* * *

"My mother used to take me with her when she went shopping..." Drakken said absently as he trailed behind Shego through the department store, not really looking at the racks of clothing they passed.

He hadn't set foot in one of those places since...the last time his mother had taken him. When he needed clothes after leaving home, he either ordered online, or went to the nearest big box store that also sold clothing and bought in bulk. He hadn't needed to care much about his attire other than his lab coats for years, anyway.

"She took you as a little boy? Hmm... I guess I can see your mom not wanting to get a babysitter." 

"Little boy... Seventeen year-old..." Drakken said with a grimace.

Shego whirled from the clothing rack she was looking at to stare at him.

"And then I had to sit outside the fitting room while she tried things on. And modeled them for me. And asked my opinion."

"Ouch," Shego said, returning to grabbing items. "Well...hope you don't mind some modeling today."

One corner of Drakken's mouth quirked up. "Watching you will be different."

"Oh, I meant you."

"M-me?" he choked out.

"Uh, hello, men's department?" Shego said, gesturing broadly around them. Drakken blinked at the very obviously male clothing on every rack and then looked back at Shego's single raised eyebrow. "Past experience traumatize you that much?"

"No," he retorted, stiffening slightly. "What...what am I modeling, exactly?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "We're going to a beach resort. You need vacation wear. And a new bathing suit," she added.

Shego held up a man's Speedo on a hanger. It was a unique shade of orange—not quiet neon, but very bright—and had a dark blue drawstring at the top which may or may not have just been for show.

She held four other Speedos on hangers in her other hand, one patterned in intense green and black flames that reminded him of Shego's glow, another with skulls and teal, green, and red tropical leaves, a third that was electric blue with black and silver lightning bolts all angled down in a V-shape, and one that was simply...a very pale blue. Eerily similar to his skin tone.

Drakken lifted his gaze from the tiny garments which Shego began swinging playfully on their hangers up to her face. She gave him a broad smirk before thrusting an arm outward and pointing across the store to the fitting room.

Drakken gulped nervously.

* * *

_One week later..._

Shego walked through the old henchmen's quarters of the lair, checking every room for a certain blue mad-scientist. It was the seventh time that week that she had lost track of the man. Each previous time she hadn't found him until hours later, always freshly showered she knew by evidence of his wet hair, and one time actually catching him _in_ the shower.

Why had he been showering mid-day? _"Because I feel like it, Shego!"_

He hadn't appreciated the interruption. But why all the showers, and where was he disappearing to for hours on end?

He wasn't in the henchmen's quarters, she determined, closing the last door with an annoyed sigh. He wasn't up in their living quarters. He wasn't in either lab. He wasn't in the dungeon, or on the beach. He wasn't on the roof, on any of the balconies, or in the garage. The vehicles were all present and accounted for.

She hadn't missed him in the hallways either, as she'd been meticulous in her exploration in case he was deliberately trying to hide something from her.

She snapped her fingers as another place occurred to her. The gym. She headed down the hall as she shook her head at the impossibility... Drakken never went there. Except after that cupcake incident, when he'd had no choice...

When she reached the door she felt a mix of relief and satisfaction as she heard the heavy clatter of weights within. But her face twisted in confusion as she stepped through the door, wondering again why Drakken would be there and apparently...hiding it from her.

Drakken was clad in his hideous red sweatsuit and using the bench press machine. Shego watched in silence for a few moments as he whined and wheezed while he struggled to lift what was obviously too much weight, his legs wiggling and his back contorting the whole time. When he finally managed to almost fully extend his arms, he released the handles and let the weights and his arms fall. Then, he took a deep breath, and began the process all over again.

Shego rushed forward in concern.

"You're going to hurt yourself!"

Drakken shouted in surprise and let go the handles, the weights falling again with a crash.

"Shego!" he cried in a mixture of alarm, anger, and scolding.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you how to weight train?" Shego continued. "You have to hold still. If you're moving around like that, the muscle groups aren't isolated and none of it does any good. And you're supposed to bring the weights back down, not drop them."

Drakken had sat up on the bench and was staring at her almost fearfully as he tried to catch his breath. Shego noted this, but was busy removing weights from the bars.

"And this is _way_ too heavy for you. You could tear a muscle trying to lift too much, or worse. What's wrong with you?"

When she'd set the weights down and brought her full focus to Drakken, his eyes were downcast and his chin was dipped toward his chest. He glanced at her, took a breath, and sighed.

Shego's brow furrowed in confusion. "...Do you want me to show you how?" 

Drakken lifted his suddenly sad eyes briefly to hers, before nodding and grunting to the affirmative. His expression morphed to frustration as his jaw set and he stood up from the bench.

Shego's brow knit even tighter, but she shook her head and lay down on the bench.

As she demonstrated the proper form and gave Drakken instructions, she watched his face. He was unusually focused on her words, paying close attention and taking in everything as he did when he was finishing preparations for a new world domination scheme. After showing him a few repetitions on the machine, she sat up and his gaze darted away.

"Um... Can you show me how to use the other ones?" Drakken asked a bit timidly, giving a small gesture around the gym.

"Sure... Dr. D., is this where you've been disappearing to all week?"

He nodded.

His worried and ashamed expression was perplexing to Shego. And concerning. As was most any mood of Drakken's that wasn't unbridled exuberance.

"Doc...I could have showed you how to use all this stuff. Nobody just knows how. Everyone has to learn."

He took a deep breath and glanced at her. "I know." He let out the breath in a huge sigh and started toward the chest press machine. "What about this one?"

Shego felt a bit of pain in her forehead for how much her brow muscles were twisting in confusion. In the past, she would have ignored his bizarre behavior... Knowing that prying would cause her more grief than just ignoring it, and also knowing that he would shake off whatever it was and come back to himself sooner or later.

Annoyingly, she found she couldn't do that anymore.

"Dr. D., what's wrong?"

She watched his jaw set as he stood with his back to her at the new machine and crossed his arms. "Nothing."

She frowned and moved to stand in front of him, a difficult task with the machine in her way. He took a step back to give her some space.

"Nuh-uh, I know you better than that. Why are you down here trying to train for a decathlon?"

"Maybe I just want to get into shape!" he protested in annoyance, raising his chin in defiance and looking away.

"You're in good enough shape. Sure you don't work out and you could stand to lose a few pounds, but you do enough just through...normal activity to be pretty healthy."

Drakken's face had fallen the instant she said 'lose a few pounds,' and he was presently staring at the floor again. Was that it? Was he suddenly worried about his weight?

"...If it's that spare tire you're concerned about, don't be. It's gone flat," she quipped, trying to brighten the room that his anxiety was darkening.

Drakken grimaced. "You—!"

He cut his words off as he suddenly studied her. Shego shifted her weight and crossed her arms as she calmed her expression and tried to encourage him with her eyes. The silent standoff lasted for about five seconds before he sighed and gave in—something _he_ wouldn't have done in the past.

"I'm just trying to look like what you like," he explained in a rush, his cheeks reddening as his eyes looked anywhere but at her.

Shego felt the familiar pain in her forehead as her brow wrinkled. "What?"

Drakken glanced at her as his shoulders and jaw tensed. "You're attracted to men with huge muscles. So I...want to look like what you like."

Shego frowned. "What makes you think that's what I'm attracted to?"

Drakken finally looked at her, his own face falling into a frown. "You've brought some of them to the lair before."

"...Oh."

"And you're always going to those resorts where the male staff uniforms are nothing but...but skimpy bathing suits, like that one you bought me."

"How would you know that?" Shego asked suspiciously.

Drakken glowered. "You leave the brochures lying all over the lair. Sometimes you leave them on my desk."

Shego coughed into her shoulder and then rolled her eyes self-consciously before muttering under her breath. "Maybe I was just trying to get you to come with me..."

"Hn?"

"Nothing. Dr. D...." She took a breath, and sighed. "Fine, you're right. I'm attracted to that tanned...heavily-built...oiled-up look."

His face fell. She closed the space between them, and setting her hands flat on his chest she ran them slowly up the thick material of his sweatsuit until they rested atop his shoulders.

"But I'm in love with _you_. All of you."

Drakken looked up, but his expression didn't change. Shego leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss which he returned, but when she leaned back again his eyes were still clouded.

"What?" she asked, worry finally cracking her shell and starting to creep into her heart.

His gaze darted away. "...We're going on vacation next week. To that resort in the Bahamas?"

"Yeah," Shego nodded, a small smile curling up the corners of her mouth. _Finally_ they were going on a vacation together, after years of her hinting. And she'd been fantasizing and making plans for the better half of the last year.

"With all of those...men who work there, in their bathing suits," Drakken grumbled.

Slowly, it started coming together in Shego's mind. She frowned in irritation and blurted out the first thought that came to her.

"The women on staff don't wear much more than the men."

Drakken barely looked up at her, his glum expression unchanged. Shego rolled her eyes.

"So I don't have anything to worry about when those bikini babes are serving you shots?" she said pointedly.

"You're probably prettier than them!" Drakken argued.

Shego stepped back and crossed her arms. "Probably?"

"Ngh. I don't know, I haven't seen them! But I wouldn't look at them anyway!"

"Because somehow you're the only man on the planet whose head isn't turned by a pretty face?"

Drakken scowled. "No. Yes. I mean, nyhn, right! I'm not interested in any other women."

"And _I'm_ not interested in any other men," she argued back.

"But you're beautiful! I don't... I don't look like those men that you're attracted to."

Shego let her arms fall and her tense posture relax as she considered, watching his almost defeated expression as he stared down at the floor. He was really, really worried. To the point that he could have seriously injured himself in a desperate attempt to bulk up fast.

"Dr. D. I've enjoyed going to beaches and resorts since before we met. And...I've liked looking at big men in Speedos for even longer."

He winced, and his eyes fell closed. Shego reached forward and set her hands on his chest again, wishing he wasn't wearing the heavy sweatshirt. He opened his eyes and looked at her sadly.

"But..." she continued with a smirk, "you're the only man in a Speedo I've jumped and had sex with in a department store changing room."

Drakken blushed fiercely, his hands moving to lightly hold onto her elbows.

"You mean...you...?"

"No," Shego said, rolling her eyes, "I've never jumped anyone but you."

Drakken's blue face gradually started to look brighter. His hands rubbed her elbows gently.

"And you're the _only_ one I'll be looking at on our vacation," she continued, moving her hands up and folding her fingers together at the back of his neck. His hands floated to her waist where they rested gently.

His expression cleared a bit more as she grinned at him. And then, his brow rose in curiosity.

"Did you...buy a new bathing suit too? I can't remember."

Shego grinned. "You'll see it on the beach."

Drakken pursed his lips. "That's not fair."

"What, you want me to put it on?" she asked, leaning forward to hug him. Drakken embraced her back and then lightly pushed her away to see her face. His lips were pressed into a pout.

"I modeled five suits for you. I want a modeling show too."

"I only have the one new one. You've seen my other ones," Shego said.

Drakken considered a moment, and then grabbed her hand and started walking toward the door.

"Then we'll just have to go back to the mall so you can try on more."

Shego stared at his back for a few moments as she was tugged along, and then her heart began to pound in anticipation.

"But," Shego squeezed his hand to get his attention, happily accepting the idea, "we can't go to the same store."

Drakken looked thoughtful. "They probably haven't had time to clean up from the fire damage... And they wouldn't let us back in anyway."

Shego caught up to him and walked at his side. "New plan. You can see my bathing suit next week. But how about we go to Elizabeth's Mystery and I can model lingerie for you?"

Drakken's steps halted as his brow shot up and his eyes widened. He stared unblinking at the door inches away from him.

"What do you say? Dr. D.? Yo. Hey Dr. D., you in there?"


End file.
